Abbas Proposes Ceasefire, Israel Kills Seven Palestinians

GAZA CITY, January 15 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Saturday, January 15, for a mutual ceasefire with Israel and talks on a final peace settlement while Israeli occupation forces gunned down at least seven Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“We are seeking a mutual ceasefire to end this vicious cycle,” Abbas, aka Abu Mazen, told Palestinian lawmakers in his inauguration speech, reported Reuters.

“In the last few days, a number of incidents have taken place. We condemn these actions, whether by the Israeli occupation forces or the reactions of some Palestinian factions.

“This does not help bring about the calm needed to enable a credible, serious peace process,” said Abbas.

The new Palestinian leader stressed that Israelis must learn to live side-by-side and share land with the Palestinians in order to end the conflict.

“From this forum, I say to the Israeli leadership and to the Israeli people: we are two peoples, destined to live side by side and to share this land between us.

“Let us start implementing the roadmap and -- in parallel -- let us start discussing the permanent status issues so that we can end, once and for all, the historic conflict between us,” Abbas said.

Palestinians Killed

In a related development, Israeli occupation forces gunned down Saturday at least seven Palestinian in separate attacks in the Gaza Strip.

Five Palestinians, including a policeman, were killed during an Israeli incursion into the Zeitun neighbourhood of Gaza City, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoting medical sources.

Witnesses earlier reported that around 10 Israeli armored vehicles thrust into the area.

The Israeli occupation army claimed the two tried to attack an Israeli force which rolled into Zeitoun from the nearby Jewish settlement of Netzarim.

Meanwhile, two Palestinians were killed and five wounded by Israeli fire in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip Saturday, Palestinians medics said.

The shooting happened in the Brazil neighborhood of the camp, said the director of the city's hospital, Ali Mussa, identifying one of the dead as Nidal Abu Tuyur, 22.

The new Palestinian fatalities bring to 4,704 the total number of people killed since the September 2000 outbreak of the Intifada, including 3,649 Palestinians, according to an AFP tally.

Israel had sealed off Gaza, suspending the movement of Palestinians and goods in and out of the occupied territory, following an attack on a crossing point Thursday that left six Israelis and three Palestinians dead.

Claiming responsibility for the attack, three Palestinian resistance factions said it came in retaliation for “Israel’s non-stop policy of aggressions and assassinations.”

Ties Ruptured

Abu Mazen’s call for a mutual ceasefire came a few hours after Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon decided to rapture all ties with the new Palestinian leader.

“Israel is severing all planned contacts with the Palestinians on all levels, from security to government leadership,” Sharon’s spokesman said.

Palestinian Minister of Negotiation Affairs Saeb Erekat told Reuters that Israeli officials had called him to relay Sharon's decision to Abbas.

“I told them that we reject that you hold Abu Mazen responsible because he is not sworn in yet as president,” Erekat said.

“The only way to end this vicious cycle of violence is by resuming peace talks and not suspending them.”

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei agreed.

“This is a wrong decision and shows that Israel is trying to find any excuse to disrupt any serious effort that leads to reviving the peace process and to achieving calm.”

Qorei stressed that there are “parties on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides who want to obstruct attempts to restart peace moves and achieve calm. So it is wrong to seize any opportunity to justify taking that path.”

Abbas condemned the Gaza attack and Israeli raids on Palestinian areas, saying the vicious circle would not “benefit peace.”

He repeatedly rallied against the militarization of the Intifada, seeing negotiations as the viable option in dealing with the Israeli occupation to restore Palestinian rights.

US Secretary of State Collin Powell hoped the Israeli decision would be “temporarily.”

Prospects for an end to four years of bloodshed appeared to brighten when Sharon called Abbas earlier this week to congratulate him on his election victory.

It was the highest-level contact between the two sides in years after Israel shunned late Arafat, claiming he was an obstacle to peace.

Sharon and Abbas had been widely expected to meet soon to discuss security coordination in the run-up to Israel's planned pullout from Gaza later this year and a possible resumption down the line of talks on peace and Palestinian statehood.